With Andrei Markov out for the rest of the year; the Montreal Canadiens have an additional $5.75 million to spend this season. A few weeks ago, I would have said that he smart thing to do would be to look to acquire a defenseman; someone like Kevin Bieksa or Ed Jovanovski. The problem with that plan is that Montreal’s defense has been rock solid as of late. So if you’re not going to add a defenseman, and Carey Price is lights out in goal; I guess that leaves you with the option of adding some offense.

Today on TEAM 990, Pierre McGuire gave his opinion that one player who Montreal should go after is Alex Kovalev. After giving the idea some thought, I think it would be an excellent move on Montreal’s part. Here’s why:

Solidifies the Top 6Imagine the Habs throwing out a top 2 lines of Cammalleri – Gomez – Gionta and reuniting Kostitsyn – Plekanec – Kovalev.

Improves the PPKovalev can still shoot with the best of them, and putting him in his comfort zone on the right half board on the powerplay would lead to more scoring with the man advantage for the Canadiens.

Low risk, High rewardHis trade value right now isn’t good at all, so you can be sure Montreal wouldn’t have to give up much to land him. Maybe a roster player and a medium-end prospect or mid round pick.

I think this is definitely worth a phone call to Bryan Murray just to see what the asking price would be. Remember; what you see from Kovalev is not what you get. His heart has been in Montreal since the moment he signed with Ottawa. You can bet that if he was traded back to the Canadiens, he would be ecstatic and that will translate into better play on the ice.